South Florida Edges Past Tulsa, 66-63

Wednesday, January 19

Tampa, Fla.

6:00 pm

Tulsa

12-3,2-2AAC

South Florida

13-5,3-1AAC

Tulsa

South Fla.

South Florida Edges Past Tulsa, 66-63

1/19/2022 8:19:00 PM | Women's Basketball

Box Score

Final Stats in PDF
Season Stats in PDF

Wyvette Mayberry, Maddie Bittle and Temira Poindexter all scored in double figures but it wasn't enough as the Tulsa women's basketball team dropped a 66-63 decision to South Florida on Wednesday night at the Yuengling Center in Tampa, Fla. The Golden Hurricane fell to 12-3 on the season and 2-2 in American Athletic Conference play, while the Bulls moved to 13-5 overall and 3-1 in the league.

"It is just a heart breaking loss to have the fight that we had for 40 minutes and to come up a little bit short," Head Coach Angie Nelp said. "It is disappointing, but at the same time you look at what our players did and the fight that they had when it seemed liked everything was against you. I'm proud of the way they stayed together as a team."

Wyvette Mayberry finished with 23 points, just one shy of her career best, while Maddie Bittle added 11 and Temira Poindexter had 10. Rebecca Lescay pulled down 10 rebounds, while Lescay and Wyvette Mayberry each had four assists, and Wyvette Mayberry had three steals.

The two teams were pretty even on shooting, with TU owning a 13-9 lead in fast break points, while USF had a 34-32 lead in points in the paint, an 11-5 edge in points off the bench and a 15-9 lead in second chance points.

Tulsa shot 38-percent from the field, 38-percent from behind the arc and 57-percent from the free throw line, while South Florida shot 35-percent from the field, 23-percent from three-point range and 58-percent from the line.

The Bulls had a 49-41 lead in rebounds, an 18-12 advantage in assists and a 7-5 edge in blocks, while both teams had four steals.

South Florida scored the first six points of the fourth quarter to tie the game at 54-all with 6:10 remaining in the contest. Bittle scored TU's first points of the frame with a pair of free throws made at the 4:25 mark, tying the game at 56, and then tied the game at 58 on a driving layup with 2:27 to play.

A layup by Poindexter and the and-one put Tulsa up 61-60 with 1:55 on the clock. The Bulls then took the lead once again on a pair for free throws made by Elena Tsineke with just 43 seconds to play, but a Poindexter layup gave TU a 63-62 advantage with 20 seconds remaining.

Tsineke went to the line and hit another pair of free throws with 12.4 seconds on the clock to put the Bulls up, 64-63, and then Lazic Mihaela and Cristina Bermejo each added one free throw for the final score.

There were five lead changes in the first five minutes of the game, with South Florida owning an 8-7 edge with 5:17 on the clock. USF had a 19-14 lead over Tulsa at the end of the frame and Wyvette Mayberry had half of TU's points (7). Poindexter picked up her second foul at the 4:39 mark and went to the bench for the remainder of the first half.

After starting the second frame down by five, TU closed the gap and tied the game at 27-27 with 4:13 to play in the quarter. The Hurricane then took the lead on back-to-back baskets by Lescay with 2:32 on the clock and Tulsa owned a 36-31 advantage at the break.

Wyvette Mayberry had 17 points in the first 20 minutes to lead all scorers. TU shot 42-percent from the field, while USF shot 36-percent in the first half.

Tulsa climbed to a 10-point lead, 51-41, with 3:19 to play in the third quarter, had an 18-17 scoring edge in the frame and owned a 54-48 advantage with 10 minutes to play.

Elena Tsineke had 30 points in the contest, while Dulcy Mendijadeu Fankam added 17 points and a team-best 11 rebounds.

Tulsa returns to action on Wednesday, January 26 against Memphis beginning at 6:30 pm at the Donald W. Reynolds Center.